I just recently started playing this. My last TW game I played was Shogun2 when it came out, and I quickly dropped it because my computer at the time couldn't really run it properly. And I've never had anything to do with Warhammer. Still, the game looked interesting and I gave it a try. And I must say I love this shit. From the beginning where you choose your lord, there are already so many cool characters and visuals. It's something you don't really see in games anymore, as it's all kind of cartoony looking and just generally tame these days, with a few exceptions. Anyway, the tomb kings looked the coolest to me so I picked Khatep and went for normal/normal.
I had no idea about provinces and went into another direction with Khatep immediately, getting full control of my province like 15 turns in. Then I kept battling against Dark elves until turn 80 or so. Vs Hellebron, Malekith and a bunch of lower clans. By this time Morathi was almost wiped out by other factions, but I got hold of her province by eliminating Alith Anar. Then I moved to Hexoatl and wiped them out. I look at my campaign goals and see I need to bring Khatep to the desert, which is basically on the other side of the map. Ok, no biggie, time for a sea trip. I come all the way from Lustria to see that Frenchmen basically hold the entire coast. And Couronne basically confederated everything. So I have to declare war to them in order to establish a presence here. Only problem is that they are allied with dwarfs and empire, who both also confederated a bunch of factions themselves. Dwarfs are low on the strenght counter tho, and are getting destroyed by Grimgor, and the Empire guys seem to be fond staying in their bases. Karl Franz was lvl 18, when Khatep was 40. Louen for instance was around 30. So while I conquer the desert with Khatep + 1 other army, I bring the rest in from the north and Invade Couronne. While they battle against Empire/Couruonne Khatep gets to do whatever he wants in the south and long victory is mine after around 170 turns. I kept playing for like 20 turns more, just to make peace with Empire/Couronne and feel like the campaign is finally won. Loved it. It was a really fun experience and it feels like I still have so many factions, lords and units to try out. The battles are also a joy to watch and play.
Not gonna lie, I savescummed a lot on this campaign, especially at the start because I had no idea yet how the game works. I mean, you have to control a full province or your public order deteriorates? I had no idea, and at the start I went up into dark elf territory, and didn't see the plain of dogs settlement below. Only for rebels to appear, who for some reason can get tier 3/4 units if left unchecked for a couple of turns. While I could only have Nehekharan warriors and basic skeletons. Auto resolve seems wonky as hell too. Khatep vs Malekith. Auto resolve always lost. And his Black guard of Naggarond were racking up 300+ kills per stack. Then I notice Khatep only gets like 6 kills with auto resolve. Just dropping Skullstorm + sandstorm on infantry easily got me 300 kills. Does AR not take into account magic or what? Black guards only got around 100 kills when I manually fought.
The good races also all started confederating at some point in the game, while I couldn't figure how to confederate with other tomb kings. Luckily the elves didn't declare war on me when I went on Couronne. There also seems to be a bias against the player. For example a new faction called Vashnaars conquest just spawns with a full stack with a black dragon, next to my capital and starts raiding. Karl Franz and all his lords go after my Tomb kings who invaded Couronne, when they are getting attacked by Vampires from the east. And the AI lords seem to respawn and get a good stack in like 4 turns. Also when the chaos ships spawn, all 4 of them went into my territory. Luckily I was allied with the Skaven from Clan Rictus since the start and they took care of them, so I didn't have to do even more reloads. Oh and it is really dumb how raiding is not considered as a declaration of war.
Anyway, all in all just a cool and fun game. I can't remember the last time I had such a great time with a modern game. Now, who to play next? Arkhan the black is cool, and so are all the vampires but I don't want Tomb kings or undead again. Maybe Skarsnik or Mazdamundi? So many to choose from. Also, this is the coolest shit ever: